DOWN GRADE INTO THE VALLEY

Once, my old man and I went on a hike through Hetch Hetchy and the Yosemite Valley. It was my first time there and easy to see why so many consider the Valley, regardless of overwhelming amount of tourist, a true wonder of the world – one of the most beautiful collections of wild terrain. Who says it better than John Muir:

“But no temple made with hands can compare with Yosemite. Every rock in its walls seems to glow with life. Some lean back in majestic repose; others, absolutely sheer or nearly so for thousands of feet, advance beyond their companions in thoughtful attitudes, giving welcome to storms and calms alike, seemingly aware, yet heedless, of everything going on about them. Awful in stern, immovable majesty, how softly these rocks are adorned, and how fine and reassuring the company they keep: their feet among beautiful groves and meadows, their brows in the sky, a thousand flowers leaning confidingly against their feet, bathed in floods of water, floods of light, while the snow and waterfalls, the winds and avalanches and clouds shine and sing and wreathe about them as the years go by, and myriads of small winged creatures birds, bees, butterflies—give glad animation and help to make all the air into music“.

MADE HERE – UPSTATE

Next chapter in the Made Here video series is on the girls from Upstate. Kalen and Astrid have a unique take on Shibori and dip dyeing to create beautiful one of a kind psychedelic scarfs in their Brooklyn apartment. Last Spring we went to hang out with them and their friends, listen to Stevie Nicks and dye some fabric. Here is the result. Thanks to Hello Mtn for writing the song just for it. Anyone else interested in possibly providing some music for future videos please email me.

GOTHIC SUMMER

I love this, strangely

SITTIN’ ON A RAINBOW

A few pieces from Wes Langs‘ upcoming June 23rd show, Sittin’  On A Rainbow, created during his month long stay in room 34 at the iconic West Hollywood hideaway.

COWBOY NATE OF TOPANGA CANYON

THIRTY THOUSAND FEET ABOVE THE DESERT FLOOR

It’s a great time of year to visit my favorite store, RTH of Los Angeles. Ol’ Rene has some new and beautiful things in for summer. Stop by when you get a chance.        537 North La Cienega.

THIS IS NOT AMERICA

CATCH OF THE DAY

The most difficult task was to find a way for people to inhabit this magnificent and natural system in numbers without destroying the very reason for people to come here. As I thought about how to resolve this issue, a multitude of images came flooding in on me of wonderful places I’d seen in other parts of the world.  I thought of the great hill towns of Italy, of the clusters of stone farm buildings in the Chianti region of Tuscany. I remembered wandering amongst the beautiful thatched roofed farm houses of Japan and the similarities between them and the Swiss chalets on the flanks of the Jungfraujoch. I thought as well of the charming early colonial towns of New England.

All of these wonderful places had a certain character, an organic wholeness, an almost mystical one-ness with the earth out of which the seemed to have grown. They all were of a piece, they exuded simplicity, they all nestled into the ground and had a similarity of materials which linked them together into a whole, they all breathed together and seemed to live together easily and naturally. Perhaps the most memorable feature of all of these hauntingly beautiful places was that the whole place, rather than any one building or house, had a memorable and unified personality.

MADE HERE

Thanks to Will Welch and GQ for the piece on Made Here. Read it here.

MARLINSPIKE CHANDLERY

MADE HERE –  a project I’ve been working on at Levi’s that focuses on craftspeople who put beautiful things into the world – has launched! You can find a new blog online at levi.com and the goods at Levis neighborhood stores in Malibu, the Meatpacking district, and on Newbury Street in Boston. Above is the first of the videos on these special folks, this one featuring Tim Whitten of Stonington, Maine. I recently went Down East to visit Tim at his shop Marlinspike Chandlery and watched him make one of his beautiful beach stone necklaces. The nice guys of Bon Iver let us use a song that’s a perfect fit.